Good Little Soldier

No, this post isn't about me, it's about him.  Can you spot him, standing tall at the top left of the book shelf?

How about now?



Here's another angle.

Yes, that is my head in the bottom right corner, though.

What in the world?

Here's the story:  At the beginning of last semester, I occasionally noticed these little green soldiers popping up around the building as though they were keeping a look out.  They seemed to change locations quite a bit and, also, so it seemed, the game was to keep them moving.

In short, let's say I have a good feeling I know who put this one here the day before fall break last year . . .

Do you think he'll make it to the end of my three years?  (Maybe he won't if anyone sees this post!)

By the way, I took these shots using my fancy pants laptop.  See?  You can tell, since my arms are down.

Hey, every now and again the criminal law deserves a little break for some high schoolian entertainment.

Hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did making it.

By the way, I'm aware that he may already have been moved (and moved back) since he was first placed there . . .  But I doubt it.

Rise and Shout! Here's to the Cougars

 

As usual, I'll be the first to admit (and the F-Word will quickly confirm) that I'm a 100% fair weather fan when it comes to basketball and a 115% fair weather fan when it come to my alma matter's basketball team.

You see, they haven't (or rather, hadn't) broken out of the first round of the NCAA tournament since '92-'93.  In other words, it's almost been two decades since they pulled off the "feat" and my brothers will tell you I was probably still wearing pull-ups at the time.

Yes, I know, there are some of you out there whose program has gone without a significant victory for your entire lifetime and yet you remain as die hard as ever.

Good on you.

Oh, and yes, BYU did virtually give me a heart attack when they nearly choked again, for like the 80th time.  But I give them sane property for pulling it out in double OT.  And from the memory I have of the refresh-every-three-seconds play-by-play, Fredette and Loyd tore it up in the final period.  So here here.

Will BYU's success continue for the near future?

My former Contracts professor has them down for the Elite Eight, my CrimLaw professor thinks (or maybe LV thinks?) they have a 1/10 shot of making it to the Final Four.  It seems like the F-Word told me some sports guy in Denver says they're  Final Four material as well.

I'll probably collapse (out of shock) if they escape the second round.

If they don't, I'll gently remind myself that I didn't care that much to begin with . . .

Busken Bakery

A couple in our ward (church congregation) here in Cincinnati heads up a bakery and it's charmant!  (Pardon my using French . . .  You can blame JK Rowling and Jim Dale.)

The food is delicious, the marketing is fresh, and of course, my wife fawns over its delicious corollary, Yagööt (which we pronounce, ya-goo).

Here are some good times with our daughter decked out and meaning business:



I guess we'll have to get some pictures of my wife devouring Yagööt.

The Cincinnati Art Museum

Yesterday my wife and I took our daughter to the Cincinnati Art Museum.

Good times were had by all.

Here are some photorials.  Enjoy.

Today's Spiritual Message: The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ

This post is to confirm my testimony of the Book of Mormon.

As its subtitle suggests, its purpose is to witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and our only source of salvation.

Last night, my wife and I were reading in the Book of Mormon, shortly after an immense scene of destruction in the Americas, following the Savior's crucifixion in Jerusalem.

Here, there were earthquakes, fires, whirlwinds, and all kinds of destruction. (3 Nephi 8.)  This destruction, which was foreseen by the prophet Nephi and many others (1 Nephi 19) caused many kings to exclaim, "The God of nature suffers."  (1 Nephi 19: 12.)

After the chaos subsided, thick darkness covered the land for three days in which the people could have no light.  They could not light a fire, they could not do anything to produce light.

In the midst of this darkness, the voice of the Savior was heard to say, in part:

Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. I was with the Father from the beginning. I am in the Father, and the Father in me; and in me hath the Father glorified his name. 

I am the light and the life of the world. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

(3 Nephi 9: 15, 18.)

I echo the words of the Master that He is the Light and Life of the world, without His light, the world would literally and spiritually be covered in darkness.

I know that there is "no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ."  (Alma 38: 9.  See also Hel. 5: 9.)

I know that Jesus Christ literally suffered every pain, temptation, sickness, and injustice that we can or ever will face and that because He took them upon Him, He, and only He, can comfort us and remove these burdens from us or enable us to bear them with His aid.  (Alma 7: 11-12.)

I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, given to us today as another sure and powerful witness that this Carpenter from Galilee is who He said He is:  The Son of God and the Source of all that is good.  (Ether 4: 12.)

This two part video is the testimony of another's witness of the Book of Mormon, one of the Savior's special witnesses, an Apostle called and chosen by Him in our day, Elder Jeffery R. Holland.

Sunday's Spiritual Message: Going Offline Continued

I meant to write about this on Sunday, but since I forgot to and I needed to take a few minutes to rest my brain (I'm writing a brief for my Lawyering/Advocacy class), here I am.

The wife and I recently came across an article in the Ensign that reinforced our desire to limit our "being [constantly] connected."

I think you'll enjoy it.

This links to the pdf:  PDF Link

Or, if you prefer the html:  HTML Link

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Misplaced Modifier in a Common Hymn?

Okay, this is pretty random, but for my Advocacy class, we have to keep track of our grammar.

So a minute ago, while I'm reading Justice Scalia's dissent in Locke v. Davey, 540 U.S. 712 (2004), I come across a phrase with the word only in it.

I've struggled with this modifier for a long time and it made me think of a hymn that actually misuses it:

There Is a Green Hill Far Away

There was no other good enough To pay the price of sin. He only could unlock the gate Of heav'n, and let us in.

http://www.hymnwiki.org/There_Is_a_Green_Hill_Far_Away  (4th stanza/verse)

Ever since I was a kid, this phraseology confused me, and now I understand why!

Only is supposed to modify the word or phrase immediately following it.

http://writing911.com/writing/good-writing-tips/grammar/watch-where-you-place-only-in-your-sentences.html


So in this case, it should be "Only He could unlock the gate . . ."  Otherwise, it means that all He can do is unlock the gate and let us in, but from the preceding text, it's clear that the purpose of the stanza is to say that He is the only one who can take the action spoken of.

Maybe I'm reading too much into the only bit, but it seems to me like the intention is to say only He could do all this (and not all He could do [expressing limitation] is this).

By the way, I'm pretty sure this stanza is an LDS revision of the hymn, but it seems like the original or more common version has the same issue:

http://www.lyricsondemand.com/miscellaneouslyrics/christianlyrics/thereisagreenhillfarawaylyrics.html

Peyton Manning the Greatest!!?>!!?!>?!?!!!

You people make me sick, whoever you are.

You can feel sad for Peyton because he's not feeling so saintly after the Super Bowl, but he's not the greatest QB of all time.  (F-Word, I assign you the task of unearthing all the mind-numbing and spirit crushing statistics along with the professional commentaries which corroborate my conclusion).

Sheesh, I figured that putting Elway first on the list would have been a big enough hint.

Maybe you'll get it right next time.

Getting the [Tax Man and FAFSA] Off Our Back

Okay, so our situation wasn't this bad (i.e., see the image at the left), and I don't want to make light of any serious POW suffering, but I swear, some rogue nations must use personal tax preparation as a means of torture and interrogation.

Forget water-boarding, W's got nothing on Uncle Sam.

I won't go into all the disturbing details (you can thank me later), but let's just say I can see why people pay accountants to do this stuff for them.

Here's the silver lining:  If you're as wealthy as we are, you may qualify for the Freedom version of TurboTax.  Just Google it and you'll find it pretty quickly.  (F-Word, I hope you enjoyed this obvious plug for my favorite enterprise.)

So as painful as the overall experience was, I can't complain too much since we had a tax genius on our side because we're wealthy enough to afford it.

"What about FAFSA?" you chirp.

Don't get me started.  FAFSA preparation should have been outlawed at the Geneva convention and I'm sure the UN human rights people will be condemning it soon enough.  In the mean time, stay as far away from this evil as is humanly possible.

Phantom/Abb Tabs in Chrome: Too Cool for School

If you've ever read more than two of my posts, then chances are you've encountered some dribble of mine about how awesome Google is and Chrome in particular.

Well, time for some more.

For some time now, I've relished Chrome's excellent pinned tabs functionality.  However, about two weeks ago, this browsing gem suddenly disappeared.  (Remember, I'm on the developer branch of Chrome, so I'm "living on the edge.")   To make a long story much much shorter, pinned tabs were temporarily disabled to make room for PHANTOM TABS!


Phantom tabs are also known as app tabs.

So what in the world is a phantom/app tab?  Have a look.

In essence, a phantom tab pins certain applications ("Web pages") in place so that they're always there (in your browser, to the left).  You'll note that I have over eight pinned tabs.  Since some tabs can take up a lot of RAM, etc., and also because you just might not want to use them every second of every day, if you "close out" of the pinned tab, instead of going away completely, it will simply become a phantom tab.

What this all means is that your favorite app/Web page will be ready whenever you want, but it won't take up any system resources if you don't have it open.  So it's a lot like the Windows 7 taskbar (notice how some of the icons in my taskbar are in use and others are not).

Chrome OS starting to make a lot more sense now??

Don't forget I'm on the dev channel of Chrome, so you'll need to set that up if you want to experience phantom tabs before they're rolled out to the masses.

Anyway.  F-Word, if you know an attorney that works for Google, have him give me a call, I think it'd be a match forged in the fires of mount doom:  A match to rule all others!

(CLICK THE IMAGE FOR A CRISPER VIEW)

Demised Premises??

• The portion of the entire property which is leased to a particular tenant.
www.gibbons-realty.com/dictionary/D.html

http://www.google.com/dictionary?langpair=en|en&q=demised+premises&hl=en&aq=f

I'm reading for Property and I just HAD to post on this legal "term of art."

Will a Realtor (or maybe an attorney, I guess) out there please explain why on earth the property I rent is called "demised."  Yes, I know my place is pretty old and a little suspect downstairs, but demised?

In case you forgot, here's the usual use of the word demise:

The demise of something or someone is their end or death. N-SING usu with poss formal

• 
  
  ...the demise of the reform movement.
• 
  
  Smoking, rather than genetics, was the cause of his early demise.

http://www.google.com/dictionary?langpair=en|en&q=demise&hl=en&aq=f

So, in the words of one of my professors, someone needs to "splain.'

F-Word?

Today's Spiritual Message: Going Offline (Practically)

I've been meaning to continue sharing what I feel are uplifting, spiritual messages each Sunday.  Now that my wife and I have sworn to drink the blood of anyone or anything that keeps our daughter up past 7:30, the posts should be more regular.  (Translation:  we just put her on a strict, regular routine.)

If you're a regular C.A. follower, then you're probably my brother.  If you're not, you probably still know me well enough to know I'm a goon for Gmail, Chrome, Google in general, and being online 28/7.  (Yes, the extra four hours is meant to show absolute dependence.)  In fact, for a long time (too long), I maintained an email notifier in both my browser and on my desktop.

Can you say email paranoia?

There's priding myself on responding to emails quickly, and then there's just being obsessive.

My wife and I have found that we often jump at the sound of an email and run over to the computer screen, frothing at the mouth.  Why?  How many emails require a response within five seconds?

In a move that will most likely cause one of my law school colleagues to literally wet himself if and when he finds out, I've (well, we've, actually) decided to remove both of my email notifiers and only check my email about twice a day.

Yes, I've decided to finally take the advice of the 4-Hour Workweek author, Timothy Ferriss.  More productivity, less distractions.  If anyone needs me in a hurry, you can call me.

Seriously.

I don't aspire to own a crack-berry (or at least be an email addict), I don't aspire to tweet all day, and I don't aspire to perusing old chums' walls all day.  In short, I aim to avoid and lessen my somewhat ostensible online addiction.

My wife and I have found we feel very liberated and much freer to be with each other and take care of things we need to get done.

Has your jaw returned to its normal position yet?  Well hold on because I'm not done yet.

Another thing my wife and I have discovered is how much filth there is on every day Web sites (big surprise here, right?).  We felt sick and tired of skimming "news pages" only to find them laden with bikini clad women and other kinds of salacious nonsense.

The solution?  We've decided to block all images by default and only unblock the sites we whole-heartedly trust.

Sound a little overboard?  I don't think so.  There's a lot of sleaze out there, and we found we didn't have to go looking for it in order for it to come to us.  Yes, many pages seem rather dull without a solitary image, but my fidelity to my wife and maintaining a happy marriage hold a much higher value to me.

Okay, you can put your jaw back in place now, I'm done.

Fancy a Trip to the Dungeons?

If you've never been down to the basements below our apartments, you have no idea what you're missing.  but since no one in his right mind would ever want to be there physically, especially at 11:00 PM when a fuse blows, I'll just show you.

Been meaning to put this up for a while.  Hope you enjoyed it.

Isn't my wife a fantastic photographer?  (Remember you can hover over and click on the bottom right hand corner for an album view.)

Happy 200th Post!!!

Yes, for all one of you faithful C.A. followers, it's been a year and a half since I first talked about being cultured and some of my fun English class experiences.  200 posts later, I'm in law school, bleeding out my existence and my future earnings all in the name of placing the letters J-D somewhere near my name.

On a somewhat more pleasant note, here's to persevering!

Chrome Extensions: Love at First Bite

First of all, if you're not using Google Chrome yet and you have a choice (I realize some of you work goons are still forced to use IE 6 . . .) what's wrong with you?

Second, if you're not using Chrome extensions yet, you need to.

I'm currently packing 10 extensions under the hood, each of which is super awesome.

If you're like me, you probably have a two second attention span, so I'll just tell you about five I think you'll be interested in.

1.  AdBlock.  Hands down, this extension is a must.  Have you ever realized how many Web pages have highly bothersome video adds all over the place?  Here's the Men's Warehouse dude challenge:  Try this extension out for at least a week.  You're gonna like the way your Web pages look, I guarantee it.
2. Google Mail Checker Plus.  Gives a very quick and robust preview for your email.
3. Cooliris.  If you search Google Images a lot, this is a huge time saver:  I especially recommend that you make a special search engine in your Chrome address bar as I've explained in a previous post.
4. Google Voice (by Google).  Dead useful if you use Google Voice.  If you do, this is seriously a must, check it out.
5. Google Dictionary (by Google).  Surprisingly useful, this extension lets you define a word simply by double clicking on it and adds an amazingly potent app in your address bar.  Even if you don't use Chrome, check out the dictionary, it's impressive and very straightforward: google.com/dictionary

Again, if you're not using Chrome yet, do yourself a very big favor and start, and make sure you install some useful extensions:  https://chrome.google.com/extensions?hl=en-US

As always, let me know if I can help with anything (I'm probably more geeky than most of my scant readership).

Why I'm a Social Media Agnostic (on the whole)

This (for the most part) is why I don't Twitter, Facebook, or, now, Buzz:



Sorry about the incidental VZ promotion. I actually have a bare-bones T-Mobile plan . . .

(Yes, I realize that this very blog post could be considered "social media";  I think of it as ranting.)

Here's to the Saints

I'll be the first to admit that I didn't watch a second of the Super Bowl but I hear it was a good one.

Who knew that after 43 years the Saints would win the Super Bowl in their first ever appearance?  I didn't.  But then again, I've been somewhat of a sports agnostic for quite some time now so I suppose my opinion doesn't really count for beans anyway.

That notwithstanding, congrats to the Saints on their first Super Bowl victory.  I imagine it must have been bedlam in the streets of New Orleans . . .

(By the way, I think the Stanley Cup is hands down the best professional championship trophy.)

Soiling the wound . . . (the joys of parenting and law school continue)

First of all, I have to give my lovely wife credit for the above title, as she says (after reminding me how she once yelled "eat nanas!" as toddler), "this is [her] area" (and first joke).

Second, I want to thank my concerned mother-in-law for jinxing me. Earlier today in an email, she kindly wished me the good fortune that our daughter wouldn't throw up on me today. For the record, she hasn't, but I think this makes like three out of the past four nights that she has either unloaded the kitchen sink or trash can all over Yours Truly (twice on the same shirt! [it had been washed prior to tonight . . . maybe I shouldn't wear it for a while]).

Finally, I'm still awaiting 3/5 of my law school grades which I naively thought would "magically" show up today, seeing as it's the "deadline" for professors to turn in fall grades (it's like waiting for the LSAT all over again!). Someone stop the madness! Ah well, I guess these are the woes of a first-year law student.

Anyway, with a particularly aromatic weekend and fresh start to a new semester, the only thing that still seems stale are my non-existent grades.

Oh, brave new world!

WARNING, THE IMAGE BELOW MAY SHOCK AND OR MAKE YOU WANT TO GAG.

(I warned you.)

It's the Holiday Season! (well, at least it was)

As usual, pictures tell the story much better than I could.

So here is our experience in Seattle, Christmas Eve at the Space Needle, Leavenworth (3rd anniversary), and so forth.

The number of pictures is plenteous, so I strongly recommend you zoom through them, but do make sure you get a full view of our daughter/grandma keys/towel in the mouth shot, I can't recommend that one enough.

Enjoy!!

The Joys of Parenting: Our Daughter's Welcome Home

You can laugh, I won't be offended.



For those of you glimpsing children on the near or distant horizon, put on a straight face, you're next!